


Simulation 217

by madlaw



Series: The Simulations [3]
Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-09
Updated: 2016-07-09
Packaged: 2018-07-22 14:22:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7442557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madlaw/pseuds/madlaw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This idea came to me as a result of a comment made by InuGhost. Hopefully it comes close...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Simulation 217

**Author's Note:**

  * For [InuGhost](https://archiveofourown.org/users/InuGhost/gifts).



Dead tired, Shaw passes out on her bed without taking her clothes off.  But the minute she hears her front door closing softly, she reaches for her gun.  But before she even touches it, she recognizes the footsteps approaching her bedroom door.  _Root just never quits.  Shooting her clearly wasn’t much of a deterrent.  If she tries to tase me again, I **will** kill her._

Feigning sleep, Shaw doesn’t give any indication she’s awake.  But when Root slowly reaches to shake Shaw’s shoulder, Shaw’s hand darts out, gripping her wrist hard.  “If you turn around right now and leave, I may not make you regret this,” Shaw warns her voice deadly calm.  She keeps her eyes closed, but doesn’t let go of Root’s wrist. Completely unconcerned, her voice low and gravelly, Root whispers, “Oh sweetie, you really know how to turn me on.  Should we start now?”  _I completely set myself up for that one._ Disregarding the remark, Shaw knows she’s not getting rid of Root until she’s thoroughly annoyed Shaw.  Glancing at her watch, she exclaims, “For fuck’s sake Root.  It’s two o’clock in the morning!”

“This is Manhattan sweetie, there’s always something open…especially me,” she teases.  Shaw ignores the comment.  “And how is it you seem to keep breaking into my apartment without a trace?  I don’t recall giving you a key,” Shaw rants sarcastically.  Wisely ignoring the question, Root doesn’t tell Shaw she palmed her key a while back and made a duplicate.  Root looks at her innocently.  “I missed you and I was bored, thought you might want to grab a snack.”  Shaw's incredulous.  “You woke me up at two in the morning for a snack?!  And you saw me three days ago!”  Rout pouts.  “That’s a really long time to go without my favorite girl.”  Getting no response except an eye roll, Root takes it as permission to continue.  “By the way, unless you let go of my wrist, I’m going to have to lie down next to you to alleviate the pressure.  Or maybe that’s what you want…,” she says hopefully.  Shaw lets go suddenly, throwing Root off balance, and sits up, but stays on the bed.  

“I swear to god Root, if you don’t get out of here right now, I will open that window and toss you out.”  Knowing she’s pushed Shaw far enough, but not being able to help herself, she whines. “But I brought you a present.”  She gives Shaw a knowing smile.  “And by the way, there’s a fire escape under your window, so I guess what you’re saying is you want me to sit there and watch?  Voyeurism is not usually my thing sweetie, but I’m flexible.”  A still and murderous look slowly appears on Shaw’s face.  Root’s not afraid of Shaw, never has been, but even she knows it’s time to stop playing games.  Walking backwards, keeping an eye on Shaw, Root reaches for the bag she left on the dining room table when she came in.  Holding the bag tantalizingly in front of her and toward Shaw, she opens it and lets her get a whiff. “I went all the way to the village to get it just for you.”

Shaw curses herself internatlly.  “Is that what I think it is?”  Root knows she's won.  “If you think it’s a burger from Minetta’s, then yes.”  Shaw's reflexes are quicker than Root's and she yanks the bag out of her hands.   “Thanks. Now get out.”   When Root doesn’t move and just stands there smirking, Shaw’s conflicted.  _Throw her out the window? Eat the burger before it gets cold?” Action? Food?  She did bring fries.  Ugh…she knows me too well.  With Shaw, hunger always wins.  Resignedly, Shaw says “You have until I finish this burger to tell me what you want before I knock you unconscious.”_

Root has been handling the relevant numbers ever since Collier’s release of classified information.  Admitting the government has the capacity to track everyone using video surveillance is political suicide.  The senator responsible for authorizing the program ordered it shut down in the wake of public outcry.  While Shaw has her mouth full, Root tells her about her latest relevant number.  Apparently, someone hacked the DOD.  Much to her surprise, tracing the hack was rather easy; the hacker’s name was Tom Richards.  Approaching Richards’ apartment, Root suddenly hears a loud crunch.  Looking over, she sees a body lying on top of a car, mangled from the impact.  Not believing in coincidences, Root knows without looking its Richards’ body.  Suspicious, Root makes her way upstairs to Richards’ apartment, knowing she needs to get in and search before the police arrive.  Looking around, opening drawers, and searching closets, Root finds nothing shedding any light on who Richards was or how he came to hack the DOD.  Frustrated, Root stands in the living room looking around and then realizes its what _isn’t there_ that's suspicious.

Absent are any books on coding, enumeration about the DOD system, routers, or fake ids.  Hacking the DOD requires on site access to a networked computer and security’s practically full proof.  The only computer in the apartment isn’t even password protected and contains no brute force programs, no decent operating system, and no masking software.  There’s no way Richards’ hacked the DOD.  Suspicious, Root starts reviewing the files Richards’ allegedly accessed.  Superficially, they seem to be plans for a fighter jet with new stealth technology.  Presumably Richards was looking to sell the information to the highest bidder.  But upon a closer look, Root discovers the plans are phony, with impossible mathematical equations and design flaws any civilian would notice.  Root knows someone set up Richards to take the fall for the hack.  But why bother setting him up when the hacked information wasn’t real?  Why create a mythical hack stealing bogus design plans?  Richards himself was an unimportant guy with no connection to espionage, the DOD, or hacking.

Interested, Shaw finishes her burger and doesn’t interrupt until Root’s finished.  “What if Richards has another location he uses to hack?  He wouldn’t want anyone to find evidence of his crimes in his apartment.”  Root shakes her head no.  “I’m telling you Sam, this guy knows nothing about hacking.  He’s an average Joe.  Or was anyway.”  Getting hooked on the puzzle, Shaw agrees to help.  _I knew she had an ulterior motive for this visit._   “Okay Root, I need sleep or I’ll be useless tomorrow, it’s already three thirty in the morning.”  Lasciviously Root tells Shaw, “Oh sweetie, I can always find a use for you.”  Pushing her forcefully to the door, Shaw growls, “Out.  Now.” 

Seeing a sad look flash over Root’s eyes before Root hides it behind her usual smirk, Shaw wonders if she’s missing something.  Sighing, she capitulates, “If I let you stay on the couch will you shut up and go to sleep?”  Touched by Shaw’s offer, but knowing better than to say anything, Root nods yes.  “Don’t get any ideas, it’s only because it will be more efficient to head out together in the morning.  The burger didn’t hurt either.”

Groggily opening her eyes in the morning, Shaw notices she’s not alone. _I knew I should have tied her to the sofa._  Not only is Root in bed with her, but Shaw has her arm draped over her stomach and their feet are tangled together.  Shaw yanks her hand back like she's been scalded.   _How is it she was able to slip into my bed and sleep with me all night, well all morning really, without me waking, without my instincts sensing danger, and with my body wrapped around her?  It’s the exhaustion, it has to be._  Angry, Shaw unceremoniously dumps Root onto the floor.  Waking abruptly when she hits the floor, Root sits up and rubs her elbow.  “Sameen, that was so not necessary.”  Shaw looks at her impassively.  “What’s not necessary is you in my bed.  Ever.”  Root does not look remorseful.  “What? I was cold.”  Then, letting her voice turn to liquid, she adds, "And you're always so...hot."  Shaw slams the door as she goes to take a shower.

As Root and Shaw begin to tear apart Richards’ life, they find nothing indicating he was even capable of being behind the hack.  They go back to his place, tear it apart, and search his car, even his locker at the gym.  It's obvious Richards is a patsy in some larger scheme. They go back to Shaw's and Root's bleak.  “We need a lead.  Some thread we can pull to unravel the tapestry.”  Eating a steak she picked up at a local diner, with Root picking off her plate, Shaw looks up thoughtfully.  “What if this was never about the DOD?  What if the hack was really meant to test the Machine’s ability to detect the threat?”  _Why am I letting you eat of my plate instead of smacking your hand into next Tuesday?_   Not wanting to encourage any more sexual innuendos, Shaw ignores the hand and the theft of her food.

Pensive, Root acknowledges it’s possible.  “But what would be the point?  The Machine’s been detecting threats for years now.”  Shaw looks at Root.  “Since Decima hasn’t been able to find the Machine or us, maybe Greer intends to find another way to render the Machine obsolete.  If it continuously creates these false leads, we’ll be chasing our tails, essentially eradicating our effectiveness.”  Agreeing, Root wonders how to combat this latest assault on the Machine.  “We need to talk to Harold and we’re probably going to need Reese at some point.”

“We’ll definitely need Harold, but I doubt we’ll have any use for his helper monkey.”  Rolling her eyes, Shaw points to the door.  As they walk out and Shaw turns to lock it, she thinks, _What’s the point?  The only one stupid enough to break in seems to have no trouble._   Shrugging and rolling her eyes behind Root’s back, Shaw follows her down the stairs.

When Root and Shaw arrive at the subway they find Harold working on his laptop.  As he hears them approach he looks up. “Ms. Groves, Ms. Shaw, what can I do for you today?”  Explaining the situation and their theory, Harold becomes agitated.   “We must intervene.  Lives depend on it.  Ms. Groves can help me with an algorithm to allow the Machine to detect false threats.”  Listening, Root considers Harold’s suggestion.  “But Harry, it would require an alteration of Her core code.  We can’t do that unless we physically enter it directly onto her server.”

“With your direct link to the Machine, perhaps she can tell us where to find Her and then relocate Herself as she did previously.”  Root shakes her head no slowly, not liking the idea.  “Assuming She would tell me where to find Her, we would be risking Samaritan locating Her as well.  Then nothing would matter; Samaritan wins.”

“We have to do something Ms. Groves; otherwise all our efforts have been in vain.”  Reluctantly, Root contacts the Machine and waits for a response.  It takes several days before Root receives an encoded message from the Machine hidden in the body of an email advertising breast enhancements.  The Machine agrees to reveal Herself to the team, deciding human lives are worth more than the risk of being found by Samaritan and destroyed; Harold taught Her long ago to revere human life above all else.

While Root and Finch work on the algorithm, Shaw starts to formulate a plan to reach the Machine and upload the code as quickly as possible. Shaw thinks she can create a situation attracting Samaritan and Greer’s attention so they focus on her instead of the Machine.  _Root is so not going to like this plan._ Shaw figures the Machine can make arrangements to have Herself shipped elsewhere the same day they upload the algorithm to reduce the time available to Samaritan to locate Her.  While Shaw is distracting Samaritan, Reese can protect Harold and Root.  But something still niggles at the back of Shaw’s mind.  She can’t help the feeling they’re overlooking something vital before engaging in this perilous errand.

Following her train of thought, she asks Root, “Are we sure the hack was set up by Samaritan?”  Incredulous, Root asks her, “Well who else would know about the relevant numbers and be motivated in some way to stop the Machine?”  Looking at Root, it becomes obvious to Shaw.  “Control.”  If Control finds the Machine, she’s back in the power game.  Control deems Samaritan, and by extension Greer, to have usurped her role to protect her country and she’s looking for a way to regain dominance over national security.  With the Machine, Control has critical ammunition to get the government to cut the NSA feeds to Samaritan.

Harold stops typing to look at Shaw.  “You might certainly be on to something, Ms. Shaw.  Although I don’t think it matters.  Regardless, we have to find a way for the Machine to detect these false threats.”  Running with Shaw’s analysis, Root wonders, “What if we could eliminate the false threats without doing anything at all?  Well at least without anything putting the Machine at risk.”  Sarcastically, Shaw tells Root, “That would be ideal Root; you have a clue how to accomplish that?” Realization dawning in her eyes, Root says, “As a matter of fact I do.  We’ll let Samaritan do it for us.”  Harold thinks about it a minute and says, “I think Ms. Groves is onto an excellent idea.  I think I have the way to make Samaritan aware of Control’s efforts without revealing our involvement in the matter.” 

Greer orders the simulation to end.  Thoughtfully he tells Lambert, “We underestimated Miss Shaw’s instincts to protect her friends; as well as her intelligence.  We are going to need a more subtle approach before we persuade her to betray them.”  Looking at a text on his phone, he orders “Implant a new chip.”


End file.
